In Hillary Clinton's defeat, many American women who put their stock in the Democratic nominee for president to break the glass ceiling, are now coping with her loss while some in leadership roles are hoping to encourage others with a message of hope.

"To all the women and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion," Clinton said during her concession speech Wednesday morning, following her loss to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

Raleigh author and Clinton supporter Becky Sansbury said she spent much of Wednesday taking calls from women in her female professionals networking group, seeking guidance on how to discuss the election results. Her book, "After the Shock" is on the topic of resilience through crisis.

"The female business professional woman side of me was very interested in seeing a woman as the commander in chief," Sansbury said. "She obviously couldn't represent everybody even if I thought she might best represent me."

"If we as women in leadership are going to shatter any glass ceilings whatsoever, we've got to keep in mind the way we serve a whole populace or a whole business or a whole world if it may be," Sansbury said.

Beth Wood, two-term North Carolina State Auditor, the first woman elected to the office more than 100 years after it was created, is hoping to make it to a third term. She is still in a tight race with her Republican opponent, Chuck Stuber, who trails her by only a few thousand votes.

"To call it a glass ceiling -- I'm not so sure that it was that profound," she said of her taking office in 2008. "But certainly it was a break for other women to kind of turn their heads and go wow, I could be sitting in that seat one day."

Wood said she hopes other women with ambitions to lead in any capacity, don't get discouraged.

"It's absolutely coming and we've got to make sure as women in this state, in this nation, that we do not lose faith that our time is coming," she said. "And it's coming in my lifetime."